nCoV: Hyderabad techie's family, hospital staff under observation

Hyderabad, March 3: The health authorities in Telangana were keeping a close watch on relatives of a software engineer who tested positive for COVID-19 and also on the staff of a private hospital who earlier attended on him.

The officials said they were also trying to track the people who travelled with the techie in a private bus from Bengaluru to Hyderabad on February 22.

The 24-year-old techie, a native of Hyderabad and working for a software firm in Bengaluru, was on Monday tested positive for COVID-19, making him the first coronavirus positive case in Telangana.

The techie, who recently returned from Dubai, is currently undergoing treatment at the government-run Gandhi Hospital here. His condition is stated to be stable.

Telangana Health Minister E. Rajender said the man was suspected to have picked up the virus in Dubai, where he came in contact with some company representatives from Hong Kong. After returning from Dubai, he spent two days in Bengaluru, meeting company employees and others.

After reaching Hyderabad by bus, he approached a private hospital with fever and flu like symptoms. He continued his treatment as an outpatient for five days and was subsequently admitted there. As there was no improvement in his condition, he came to Gandhi Hospital on March 1.

The minister said his samples were sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune and they tested positive for COVID-19.

About 80 people are believed to have come into contact with the techie since his return. These include his eight family members, 42 staffers at the private hospital including doctors, paramedical staffers and front office personnel and 27 bus passengers.

The family members of the techie were brought to Gandhi Hospital and kept in isolation ward. The staffers at the private hospitals were also advised to undergo all tests.

He said it was for authorities in Karnataka to identify the people he came in contact during his travel from Dubai to Bengalauru and also during his stay in Bengaluru.

Rajender said there was no need for any panic as the health department was taking all steps to deal with any situation.

A ministerial committee is holding a meeting with top officials on Tuesday to discuss measures to create awareness among people and check possible spread of the virus.

The health minister said isolation wards with 40 beds each were set up at Gandhi Hospital, Chest Hospital and Fever hospital for treatment of suspected coronavirus cases.

The minister pointed out that India has not yet reported any case of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection. He said all positive cases and suspected cases were those who came from China, Hong Kong, Italy and other countries.

Officials said as many as 17,662 passengers were screened at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here till March 2.

A total of 380 suspected cases were referred to the designated hospitals. Samples were taken from 111 of them and barring one all tested negative for COVID-19.